Juric: Roma ‘missing a bit of everything’ ahead of ‘high-quality’ Fiorentina | OneFootball

Roma coach Ivan Juric says that his team are ‘missing a bit of everything’ rather than having one major issue in Serie A this season, as the Giallorossi prepare to take on Fiorentina in Tuscany in Serie A on Sunday.

The Giallorossi coach gave his pre-match press conference on Saturday, where he spoke about his player’s form, team news and the decision to exclude Germany veteran Mats Hummels since he signed on a free transfer in the summer.

Juric: Roma ‘missing a bit of everything’

At the beginning of his presser, Juric was asked about the form of two of his key senior players, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paulo Dybala. Both lined up in the 1-0 loss against Inter last weekend, but were rested for the Europa League win over Dymano Kyiv on Thursday.

“They are fine,” Juric told the press. “Pellegrini has been a bit unlucky around the penalty area. He hasn’t managed to get going yet, but I seem him doing very well. I see both him and Paulo in excellent form.

“Obviously, the game depends on their goals because they play in those positions around the area, so we hope to improve on that. Mancini trained yesterday, he’s fine. We’ll see about Soule, who had a fever yesterday.”

Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini (L) and Inter’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan (R) in action during the Italian Serie A match AS Roma vs FC Inter at Olimpico stadium in Rome, Italy, 20 October 2024. EPA-EFE/ANGELO CARCONI

The Roma coach then explained what he expected from Raffaele Palladino’s Fiorentina team.

“They have 20 really high-quality players, and they’ve made some important signings as well. They’re on the right path, they’ve done well over the last three or four games. They’re very organised, have lots of talent, it’s a team with lots of values.”

On Roma’s shortcomings this season, Juric added: “We’re missing a bit of everything. We’ve hit the post, but wasted some opportunities as well. We need to have more conviction, and we’re working on that. We hope that everyone gets going.

“The team has done well in many respects. We saw it in the Europa League. If you want to win matches, you can’t have a drop in concentration, and you have to be more aggressive in the penalty area. We’re trailing, so every game is massively important.”

Juric explained that he doesn’t care for players’ previous experiences when selecting his starting line-up, which is part of the reason why 2014 World Cup winner Mats Hummels still has not featured for the Giallorossi since signing as a free agent at the start of September.

“I choose based on what I see in training. The ones who give me the most confidence play. Age, CVs don’t matter, it’s a technical choice.

“Hermoso is also not getting many opportunities, despite his experience at Atletico Madrid. Ndicka can become a top player at the right of the back three. Tomorrow he’ll have a difficult test against (Moise) Kean. There are no other reasons, it’s a technical choice.”

Juric also provided a brief update on the likes of Alexis Saelemaekers, Stephan El-Shaarawy and Nicola Zalewski.

“Saelemaekers is doing well. He’ll take time to come back. Stephan will come back in from the next game or the one after that. Big compliments go to Zalewski who did really well in the last game.”